Demigods and Gods Read the Future: The Lightning Thief
by PercabethReyPotter
Summary: The demigods from Camp Half-Blood are sent back in time to Mount Olympus to read the exploits of a certain Percy Jackson along with the Gods... The rest, as they say, is history! Set a year after Thalia was transformed into a pine tree. The demigods are from after the end of Son Of Neptune.
1. Chapter 1: Introductions

**Demigods and Gods Read The Future: Lightning Thief**

Disclaimer: I do not own the text from Percy Jackson books or any of the characters.

It's my first FanFic, so here goes!

Read and Review!

**Chapter 1: Introductions**

It was a week after the Winter Solstice. All was normal on Mount Olympus, well, as normal as things could be on the abode of the gods, 600 floors above the mortal world.

All the gods were in their realms or attending to their daily work, when suddenly a klaxon wail sounded throughout Olympus. It was the intruder alarm for the throne room.

Immediately, Zeus, Apollo, Athena, Demeter, Ares, Hephaestus, Aphrodite and Dionysus, all of whom were on Mount Olympus, flashed into the throne room. A second later, Artemis, Poseidon, Hermes and Hades flashed into the throne room as well.

"Hades!" exclaimed Zeus and Poseidon. "Brother, what are you doing here?" asked Zeus, as the Lord of the Dead's obsidian throne appeared next to Poseidon's.

"You mean you don't know?! I thought _you_ had me flashed here!" said Hades, appearing quite bewildered.

"No I did not. What the Hades is going on here? Where is the intruder?" asked a perturbed Zeus.

"I think I found our 'intruder'… It is this package right here." said Hermes, pointing towards a large package on a table in the middle of the throne room which, in all the excitement over Hades' appearance, had gone unnoticed.

"Hermes, what childish joke is this? We all have business to attend to." said Artemis, scowling in irritation.

"As much as I would like to be the one behind this prank, " began Hermes, his eyes twinkling, "I have no idea how that package got here."

"But then how-" Athena was cut short by a bright flash of light above the table. As the light dimmed, the gods saw a note gently land on the package.

Apollo, being the closest to the table, picked it up and read it out loud.

"_The package on the table is a set of books about the future, titled Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Its purpose is to prepare you for future events. Time will come to a standstill on Olympus until the books are finished. None of the gods present at this moment can leave the palace until after the books are completed-and that includes you Dionysus, so don't try to sneak out."_

As all the gods turned as one, they saw said god frozen in his tracks trying to make his way out of the throne room.

"Wow, this guy sure knows us well." commented Hermes, chuckling at Dionysus' now red face.

"_Some special guests from the future will be joining you in reading these books. No matter what happens in the books, do not harm any of them and do not ask them anything about the future. All will be revealed eventually. _Signed-" Apollo stopped, and grinned. "Oh look, it's from the future me! Ha! I rock!" he exclaimed doing a happy dance.

"Oh grow up, Apollo!" exclaimed Artemis, glaring at her brother. "Now where are these guests the note talked about?"

As if on cue, a blinding light filled the room. Gradually, it faded, leaving in its wake a group of what appeared to be confused teenagers in a tangle of limbs on the floor.

"What the Hades just happened?"

"Where are we? Are we on-"

"Olympus! Great! Now what do they want from us?!"

"Ow, Connor, your elbow is in my face!"

"We are never gonna finish the ship at this rate!"

After a few moments of utter chaos and muffled groans, one of the teens stood up with her dagger drawn. She was tall, with blond hair, stormy grey eyes and an air of assertiveness about her.

"Everybody stop talking and stand up!" she yelled above the noise.

The other teens obeyed, getting to their feet and standing before the shell shocked gods.

"Lord Zeus, why are we here? What is it

"Who are you? Introduce yourselves." thundered Zeus.

"Lord Zeus and other gods, we are all demigods. I am Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena-"

"And the Architect of Olympus" interjected a skinny boy with an upturned nose and a mischievous smile on his face.

"Connor!" yelled another girl, a redhead.

"Connor-" "-and Travis" "Stoll, sons of Hermes, at your service." said the boy and another standing next to him, together, grinning at Hermes.

"Chris Rodriguez, also son of Hermes."

Hermes smiled at his three children. "You boys look so grown up!" he exclaimed.

A pale boy wearing dark jeans, a black t-shirt and a black aviator jacket came forward next. "Nico Di Angelo, son of Hades and the Ghost King." he said, bowing.

"N-Nico?" spluttered Hades. "How did you-"

"HADES!" exploded Zeus. "You broke the oath?!"

"Brother, what is this?" asked Poseidon in a much calmer voice.

"Okay, everybody relax," said Annabeth, coming forward. "Lord Zeus, Lord Hades has not broken the oath. Nico was sired 70 years ago."

"But he is so young!"

"Zeus, do you remember Maria?"asked Hades, his eyes filling with pain, "Nico is her son."

"Impossible! I had to kill them!" exclaimed Zeus.

"I saved my children. Maria, however…" Hades trailed off despondently.

"Hades, brother, I'm sorry for what happened that day. I truly am." said Zeus, lowering his head in shame. "Demigods, continue…"

"Grover Underwood, satyr, Lord of The Wild."

"You!" roared Zeus, "It is because of you that my little girl-"

"Is alive today." interrupted Thalia, "Father. Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus and Lieutenant to Lady Artemis."

"How is this possible?" asked a stunned Zeus.

"Remember what the note said, father? All will be explained." said Athena, in a calm voice.

"Note? What note?" asked another demigod, who looked like a Latino elf. "I'm Leo by the way, Leo Valdez. Son of Hephaestus and Supreme Commander Of The ArgoII!" he continued, grinning.

Zeus quickly explained the purpose of the demigods' presence at Olympus and handed Annabeth the package to open.

"The future? Wow, okay, this is officially super weird!" muttered Connor to his bother.

"I'm Piper Mclean, daughter of Aphrodite." said a beautiful girl with multicoloured eyes, bowing before the gods.

Ah, Piper, thought Aphrodite, smiling proudly at her daughter, she has certainly turned out wonderfully!

"Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares and slayer of the drakon."

"The drakon?" asked Ares. When she nodded, he grinned wickedly at her, "That's my girl!"

"Katie Gardner, daughter of Demeter."

"Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, praetor of the Twelfth Legion, Fulminata."

As the last of the demigods stepped forward, the gods' jaws dropped and their forms flickered. What was a Roman demigod doing with Greeks?

As if reading their thoughts, Nico smiled grimly, "The future is messed up... You'll see."

"Well, now that the introductions are done with, let's begin to read shall we? Daughter of Athena, would you like to begin?" said Zeus

"Annabeth?" said Thalia worriedly, gently nudging her best friend. But Annabeth could only stare mutely at the book in her hands, her jaw locked as though she was trying not to cry.

Thalia read the title of the book over her shoulder. "Oh" she gasped softly.

Out loud, she said "I will read first."

Gently prying the book from Annabeth's frozen hands, she read the title out loud

"The first book is _Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief"_

-X-


	2. Chapter 2

**So here is chapter 1... Thoughts are in italics. I own nothing in bold; neither do I own any of the characters.**

**Enjoy! And don't forget to review, guys! This is my first fic, so I could really use some comments and criticism...**

**Rey**

"The first book is _Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" _read Thalia.

All the demigods turned to gape at the book. All the colour had drained from Annabeth's face as she stared straight ahead. It had been months since any of them had set eyes on the son of Poseidon.

Poseidon looked worriedly at his brothers. _What will they do when they find out that Percy is my son, _he wondered.

"Chapter **1 – I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher**" continued Thalia, after a brief pause.

**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.**

"Join the club," muttered most of the demigods. The gods heard this and frowned. _How bad was the future?_

**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is:**

"Oh this should be good," said Thalia, smirking.

**close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth and try to lead a normal life.**

"… That's actually pretty good," said Nico, looking surprised.

**Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful nasty ways.**

All the demigods looked down at this, remembering the siblings they had lost in the war.

**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened. **

"Pah!" exclaimed Zeus, "Do we look like fiction to you, boy?"

"You do know that you are talking to a book right?" asked Hermes, grinning as the king of gods coloured.

"He only meant that being a half-blood is a difficult burden to shoulder, Lord Zeus." explained Annabeth.

Athena's brow furrowed. _Was her daughter friends with this boy? Or more, considering her reaction to the title, and how quickly she rose to his defence…_

**But if you recognize yourself in these pages- if you feel something stirring inside-**

"Do you feel something stirring inside you?" asked Nico, in an eerie voice, sneaking up behind the Stolls, making them jump and glare at him.

"Nico, shut up." said Thalia, glowering at her cousin, before continuing.

**stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before **_**they **_**sense it too, and they'll come for you.**

**Don't say I didn't warn you.**

"Don't even think about it." warned Artemis, as Hermes, Apollo and the Stolls opened their mouths. They quickly closed their mouths.

**My name is Percy Jackson.**

Annabeth looked down at her hands. _Where are you Seaweed Brain? I miss you.. _

Aphrodite straightened in her throne as she felt a wave of love sweep across the throne room.

**I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**

**Am I a troubled kid?**

"Yes!" chorused all the demigods except Jason, Leo and Piper, as Annabeth and Poseidon glared at them, which did not go unnoticed by Athena.

**Yeah. You could say that.**

'See, he says so himself." said Nico, spreading his hands for emphasis.

**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan-twenty eight mental-case kids two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum Of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

"Uggh!" came the reaction from the demigods.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea for a field trip." said Annabeth and Athena at the same time. Annabeth looked at her mother and blushed.

**I know-it sounds like torture. **

Hermes and Apollo nodded so hard, their heads were in danger of coming off. Athena scowled at the book.

**Most Yancy field trips were.**

**But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.**

**Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. **

"Sounds like Chiron." said Zeus. All the gods turned to look expectantly at Dionysus, who seemed to be dozing on his throne.

"Dionysus!" exclaimed Zeus.

"Yes, that is Chiron," said Dionysus in a bored voice, without bothering to crack open an eye.

**You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armour and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.**

"Awesome!" exclaimed the Stolls and Chris.

**I hoped this trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**

"Yeah right," snorted most of the demigods, "Percy doesn't find trouble, trouble finds him." said Grover. Poseidon paled at this.

**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had an accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway. **

"Sweet!" exclaimed a certain son of Hephaestus. "Annabeth, can we-""No!"

"Aww man!" said Leo, pouting.

**And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the long lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim... And the time before that…. Well, you get the idea. **

"NOOO! I want to hear more," whined Travis.

**This trip, I was determined to be good.**

**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter and ketchup sandwich.**

All the women in the room gagged at this. Even some of the boys didn't look so good.

**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. **

"Wimp!" muttered Clarisse. Grover glared at her.

**He must have been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled. He had a note excusing him from P.E for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should have seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**

"Foolish satyr, way to blow your cover!" said Zeus, amidst chuckles from the half-bloods, looking disdainfully at Grover, whom he still had not forgiven.

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do an6ything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death **

"What?!" growled Poseidon, as the gods looked at him curiously. "Please let me finish, Lord Poseidon," said Thalia, amused.

**by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip. **"Oh..." said Poseidon, embarrassed.

"Kelp-for-Brains, why do you care so much about this boy?" asked Athena.

Poseidon glared at her, and then sighed. _Damn that woman, why did she have to figure everything out?_

"I suppose you will find out eventually, but Perseus Jackson is my son." said Poseidon, wearily.

"WHAT?! You broke the oath!?" roared his furious brothers.

"Oh please, you are hardly ones to talk, seeing as your own children are sitting in this room." snapped Poseidon.

"Brothers, please do not fight, we were given these books to read for a reason, I'm sure." said Hestia, softly. "All three gods looked at her and subsided into silence.

"Continue Thalia," said Artemis, smiling at her lieutenant.

"**I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.**

**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."**

"That's it satyr," muttered Poseidon, "Keep my boy out of trouble."

Athena looked at Poseidon in surprise. '_He really cares about this child. He is a good father and a good man.' _she thought, and then blushed. _Where had that come from?_

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

"**That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

"Wimpy satyr," growled Ares, polishing his sword.

"**You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."**

**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

Poseidon paled. "What happens to him?" he asked the demigods.

"You know we can't tell you, Lord Poseidon, we are sorry." said Annabeth, looking apologetic.

**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour. He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-gold pottery. It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**

"Longer." said the gods.

**He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**

_Wow, the boy is actually trying to listen_, thought Athena.

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. **

_Hmm… why does she sound familiar? _wondered Hades.

**She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**

**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

"She needs to eat more cereal," said Demeter, meditatively.

Hades and Nico just looked at her, shaking their heads in disbelief.

**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."**

"Oh gods..." said Poseidon, clutching the arms of his throne.

_Alecto, _thought Hades, _Poseidon is going to send me to Tartarus!_

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you shut up?"**

"Yeah, you tell her Percy!" cheered the demigods.

**It came out louder than I meant it to.**

"Of course it did, Fish Face," said Thalia, interrupting herself.

**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**

**"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"**

**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"**

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

"Of all the scenes, it had to be that one." groaned Hades.

**"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because ..."**

**"Well..." I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and -"**

"GOD!" exploded Zeus, as lightning crackled outside the throne room.

"Peace brother, he is still unfamiliar with the ways of our world. Chiron will correct him, I'm sure." said Poseidon calmly.

**"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.**

**"Titan," I corrected myself. **

"See..."

**"And ... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters -"**

**"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.  
**"Agreed," said the unfortunate victims, grimacing in distaste at the memory.

"**\- and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."**

Dead silence in the throne room. "Did he just-" began Hermes. "Summarise the biggest, most catastrophic war in the history of the world in one sentence?" finished Zeus, "Yes, yes he did."

"Well it would have been too long any other way, I suppose." said Athena. Poseidon looked at her, eyebrows raised. _Why did she support him, knowing he was his son?_ He decided not to bring it up for the time being.

**Some snickers from the group.**

**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"**

"Stupid mortal…" muttered the demigods.

**"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"**

"Busted!" said Jason and Leo together.

**"Busted," Grover muttered.**

"Oh gods, Jason we think like a goat!" said Leo, swooning dramatically.

"Satyr. Not goat, satyr." Said Grover, glaring at the son of Hephaestus.

**"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.**

**At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**

"Ultimate prank ruiner!" whined Travis.

"Travis, you do know that ruiner is not a word, right?" said Katie, raising an eyebrow at him and smiling.

"Uh… umm…", stammered Travis, unable to take his eyes away from her smile. "Well, now it is!" he said, recovering, as he stuck his tongue out and grinned at her.

Katie just shook her head at him and turned back towards Thalia. _Gods, he was so stupid… and cute… _

**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**

**"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

"Happy, yeah right!" snorted Apollo.

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.**

"All men ARE doofuses." said Artemis.

"Heyyy…" complained the male population in the throne room.

**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."**

**I knew that was coming.**

**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**

**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go - intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**

"Much older, son. Much, much older." Said Poseidon.

**"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**

**"About the Titans?"**

**"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**

**"Oh."**

**"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**

"Gee… Tough.." said Hephaestus.

"Oh please, the kid's a wimp." sneered Ares.

**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

"It's for your own good, Percy." said Hestia softly.

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped. **

"COOL!"

**But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C - in my life. No - he didn't expect me to be as good; he expected me to be better. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

The demigods grimaced. Dyslexia sucked.

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**

"He probably was." said Aphrodite.

**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**

"Whoa, Uncle P, father, why are you guys so mad?!" exclaimed Apollo.

"No idea."

**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**

"She one of yours, Lord Hermes?" asked Leo, winking mischievously.

"Hades no!" said Hermes, shuddering.

**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school - the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

"You're-"

"Not a loser-"

"Percy!" chorused the demigods, including, surprisingly, Clarisse.

_A true and noble hero, it seems, _thought Hestia, _he has won over all his friends._

**"Detention?" Grover asked.**

**"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean - I'm not a genius."**

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

Grover blushed as the entire room erupted into laughter.

**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. **

"Mamma's boy." muttered Ares and his daughter.

"Shut up Ares!" said Aphrodite, throwing a stiletto at his head.

**I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

"Aww…" said most of the females in the room.

_Maybe this boy is different from the others, _thought Artemis.

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.**

"Cool! Dad, can you teach me how to make one of those?" asked Leo, jumping up and down on the spot, much to the amusement of the others.

"Sure, son." said Hephaestus, smiling warmly at his son.

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends - I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists - and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

"Eurgh! That is just plain gross!" said Piper, a revolted expression on her face.

**"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

Aphrodite paled. "I think I'm going to be sick! Not even I can rectify that-that abomination!"

**I tried to stay cool. The school counsellor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**

"We get that he is Barnacle Beard's son. Does he _have_ to keep making ocean references?" asked Hades.

**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**

"Whoa! Cool!"

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see - "**

**" - the water - "**

**" - like it grabbed her - "**

Poseidon smiled smugly. His son was very powerful.

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey - "**

_Ugh, I hate it when she does that_, thought Nico.

Meanwhile, Hades was getting really nervous about Poseidon's reaction.

**"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."**

"NOO! Rule no. 31, never, EVER guess your punishment!" groaned Hermes and his sons.

"There's a rule book?" asked Jason.

"Oh yes there is! The holy grail of every son of Hermes." said Chris, as his father sat up on his throne and struck a pose for the wild, adoring fans. (Fantasy)

"Figures." muttered Artemis, facepalming.

**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

"Uh… DUH!" said Apollo.

**"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**

**"Wait!" Grover yelped. It was me. I pushed her."**

"Brave satyr." said Hestia, smiling kindly at a blushing Grover.

**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**

"Don't blame you, G-man." said Nico.

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

Connor and Travis started whispering amongst themselves excitedly.

_Uh-oh, _thought Grover.

**"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.**

**"But - "**

**"You - will - stay - here."**

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

**"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**

**"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "Now."**

**Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.**

"Very scary Prissy!" sneered Clarisse.

"Oh please, even you have to admit, Percy's glares are a bit freaky! Not even death breath's glare is that bad!" said Thalia.

"…Hey!" exclaimed Nico, shooting said glare at his cousin.

"Yeah, there is a reason the Poseidon cabin doesn't get pranked!" said Connor, as the Stolls shuddered at the memory.

**Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

**How'd she get there so fast?**

**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counsellor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

"Ignorant mortal, it's the Mist!"

**I wasn't so sure.**

**I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.**

"No! Chiron should have been keeping an eye on Percy!" said Poseidon, his knuckles white as he clutched his trident.

**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

"You wish, punk!" said Ares, his eyes shining. Finally, some excitement.

**But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.**

**Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

"No, no, no, no, no…" chanted Poseidon.

**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...**

**"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**

**I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."**

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**

"Observant." commented Artemis.

**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

"Think again, demigod." said Demeter. By now all the gods had realized that this was a monster, though which one…?

**I said, "I'll - I'll try harder, ma'am."**

**Thunder shook the building.**

**"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

"Confess to what?" asked Zeus.

"You will find out soon, Lord Zeus." said Nico gravely. (NO PUN INTENDED!)

**I didn't know what she was talking about.**

**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room. **

"Nice, Percy!" said Chris, as the Stolls and Leo nodded. Even Jason had to crack a smile.

**Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**

"Now he has, hasn't he Annie?" asked Connor, waggling his brows suggestively.

"Yes he has… Connor?"

"Yes, Annie?"

"Tell me, do you like the taste of celestial bronze in your mouth?" asked Annabeth, calmly examining her knife.

Connor gulped. "No ma'am."

"Then stop calling me Annie." she said, giving him a super scary stare.

"Y-yes ma'am."

"Good boy. Thals," she continued, over the laughter in the throne room, "Please resume reading"

**"Well?" she demanded.**

**"Ma'am, I don't..."**

**"Your time is up," she hissed.**

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

All the gods gasped.

"HADES!" screamed Poseidon, lunging at the God of the Dead, "You-sent-a-FURY-after-my-son?!" he yelled, punctuating each word with a punch.

It took a while, but finally, the other gods managed to pull a still shaking Poseidon off of Hades, who was bleeding ichor from a cut in his lip.

**Then things got even stranger.**

"Is that even possible?" asked Leo.

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**

**"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.**

"A pen? Of what use is that?" asked Jason, disbelief written across his face.

**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword - Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

Leo whistled, "Awesome! It's just like your coin Jason!"

**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.**

**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**

"Wi-" Ares began, but got blasted by icy seawater before he could finish.

**She snarled, "Die, honey!"**

**And she flew straight at me.**

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**

"Yeah, because everyone naturally swings a sword to fight a monster!" came a comment from the peanut gallery.

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hisss!**

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

"NO WAY!"

"A Fury was his first kill?!" asked Piper, incredulously.

"Yep." said Annabeth, smiling proudly. _That's my Seaweed Brain!_

Jason was also grudgingly in awe of Percy, though he didn't like the way all his friends seemed to worship the demigod.

**I was alone.**

**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

"He is _still _letting the mist affect him!"

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**

"Magic mushrooms! Connor-"

"Pull anything, and your heads will hang next to Seymour!" warned Annabeth.

**Had I imagined the whole thing?**

"Nopety nope!" sang Apollo. Artemis sighed before smacking him on the head. _How was this _moron_ her three thousand year old, immortal, god brother?!_

**I went back outside.**

**It had started to rain.**

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**

"Who?" asked Poseidon.

**I said, "Who?"**

"Like father, like son it seems, Kelp Head." said Athena, as the others chuckled.

"Why, thank you Athena, that makes me feel quite proud and honoured actually!" said Poseidon, one hundred percent sincerely.

Athena was rendered speechless. _I did not expect that.. A mocking rejoinder perhaps, but that… was quite mature of Coral Breath._

**"Our teacher. Duh!"**

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.**

**She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**

**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

**He said, "Who?"**

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

"Grover!" groaned the demigods.

"Boys, make sure you teach this satyr how to lie." Hermes instructed his sons.

"Done, dad!" said Travis, scribbling in a small notepad.

**"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."**

**Thunder boomed overhead.**

**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.**

**I went over to him.**

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**

"Now Chiron on the other hand…" said Apollo.

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**

**"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

**"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."**

**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"**

"That's the way Chiron! He is a MASTER!"

"That's the end of the chapter, guys." said Thalia, shutting the book.

"Good! I'm starving!" complained Leo, patting his stomach.

"We will have lunch after the next chapter, boy." said Zeus, "Until then- Demeter, can you give him some cookies?"

"Of course." Said Demeter, summoning a plate of cookies for very happy Leo Valdez.

"I will read next," said Katie, taking the book from Thalia.

"Chapter 2: Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death?" read Katie, puzzled by the bizarre title.

**AN: Update 18/05/16: Thank you Guest reviewer for pointing out my error regarding Athena thinking of Percy as sea spawn before his identity was revealed.**

**Rey**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 2: THREE OLD LADIES KNIT THE SOCKS OF DEATH**

**I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. **

"It's not a hallucination, godling." sighed Artemis.

**For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr - a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip - had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.**

"Ah! The wonders of the Mist!" said Hermes, in a slightly dreamy voice.

**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.**

"That's because you are, Percy!" chorused Thalia and Nico, wrenching a smile even from Annabeth.

**It got so I almost believed them - Mrs. Dodds had never existed.**

"Gods, he is so _dim-witted_!" exclaimed Athena, irritated.

"No, mother. Percy is actually quite sharp when he wants to be." replied Annabeth, raising Athena's eyebrows _and_ her suspicion.

**Almost.**

"Ten drachmas says it's Grover." said Connor, to no one in particular.

"I'll take you up on that, Connor." said Apollo, beaming at said Stoll, almost blinding him.

**But Grover couldn't fool me. **

"Ha! I knew it!" said Connor, happily collecting his drachmas from a sulky Apollo, as Grover blushed.

**When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.**

**Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum.**

"No Styx, Sherlock!" said Nico.

"Language, Death Breath." said Thalia sternly. Nico scowled at her, sticking his tongue out for effect.

**I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat.**

"Sissy." muttered Ares under his breath, which earned him another freezing saltwater shower courtesy Poseidon.

**The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. **

**One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.**

"Whoa dad, Uncle P, you guys seriously need to take a chill pill!" exclaimed Apollo, as the other gods frowned. Nobody noticed the slight gleam in Ares' eyes.

_Maybe there's going to be another war, _he thought gleefully.

**I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs. **

"WHAT?" Athena glared at the book. "You call this-this imbecile smart?" she asked turning to Annabeth incredulously.

Annabeth merely shrugged. "He is better at thinking on his feet. Plus, ADHD and dyslexia do not make his life easier, or any of ours for that matter, mother." she replied calmly.

Katie hurried ahead before the goddess of wisdom could retort, hoping to avoid any blow-ups for as long as possible.

**I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class. **

"Ah, memories…" said the Stolls, with identical nostalgic expressions on their faces, as the others chuckled.

**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. **

Annabeth giggled, _Percy and his insults!_

**I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.**

"What does it mean, Annabeth?" asked Leo.

"Drunk." said Annabeth, still smiling fondly.

"So Mr. D then?" asked Connor, his innocent expression fooling no one, as the throne room erupted into chuckles.

"Watch it, Camphor." growled Dionysus, glaring at Connor.

**The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.**

**Fine, I told myself. Just fine.**

"It is, Percy." said Thalia softly, so no one could hear. "You belong with us, at Camp Half Blood."

Somehow managing to hear her, Annabeth turned to Thalia and smiled.

**I was homesick.**

"Punk."

**I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.**

"Paul's awesome." said Nico, confused.

"This was before Paul." said Annabeth, grimly. Percy hadn't told her much about Gabe, but she knew enough about him to hate him.

**And yet... there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend, even if he was a little strange. I worried how he'd survive next year without me.**

"Aww… That's so sweet!" cooed Aphrodite.

**I'd miss Latin class, too - Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.**

"Go Chiron!"

**As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for. I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.**

"Good godling, just keep that up." said Artemis, nodding at the book

**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room. **

"That insolent-" began Athena.

"Oh for heaven's sake, shut up Athena!" said Poseidon impatiently, wanting to continue reading about his son.

**Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. **

"…"

"Even I can't imagine that." Said Apollo, his forehead all scrunched up.

**There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, **

"He knows now." said Grover.

"What?! Please don't tell me his knowledge is _practical._" Poseidon paled.

"You will find out soon, Lord Poseidon, don't worry." said Annabeth soothingly, before elbowing Grover in the gut, a reproachful frown on her face.

"OOF! That hurt!" whined Grover, doubling over.

**or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.**

"Tell me about it!" exclaimed a few demigods, as the others nodded, grimacing at the thought.

**I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.**

"Ooh... Sucks to be you, man! I feel ya.." said Travis, wincing sympathetically.

"How would you know?" asked Hermes curiously.

"Let's just say that a prank we tried to pull on the Demeter cabin went awfully, awfully wrong." said Connor, scratching his face reminiscently.

Demeter beamed at her daughter, who winked back.

**I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.**

**I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.**

**I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.**

"Good lad, Percy." said Poseidon softly, a small, proud smile on his face.

**I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.**

**I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said "... worried about Percy, sir."**

"Uh-oh…"

**I froze.**

**I'm not usually an eavesdropper, **

"Yeah, right!" snorted Thalia.

**but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.**

"Fair enough."

**I inched closer.**

**"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too - "**

**"We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more."**

**"But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline - "**

"What deadline?" asked Zeus.

**"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."**

**"Sir, he saw her... ."**

**"His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that."**

"Not anymore, it won't." said Hermes, shaking his head wisely.

**"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."**

"That I finally get to end you, satyr." said Zeus, glowering menacingly at the book.

Grover gulped.

"Father…"

"Alright, Thalia, I will hold my peace. For now." Zeus grumbled, though the thunderous expression on his face didn't quite clear.

**"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall - "**

**The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.**

"Oh no! Rule number 45, never give yourself away!"shouted Hermes, startling an already anxious Poseidon.

**Mr. Brunner went silent.**

**My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.**

"Yes, that's it, come on demigod, get out of there." said Hermes encouragingly.

**A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.**

"He shouldn't be in his true form, he might raise suspicion." said Hades, meditatively.

**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.**

**A few seconds later I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on.**

**A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.**

**Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."**

"Will somebody please tell us what happened on the winter solstice?" whined Apollo.

**"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn ..."**

**"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."**

**"Don't remind me."**

**The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.**

**I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.**

**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm.**

**Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.**

**"Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?"**

**I didn't answer.**

**"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"**

**"Just... tired."**

**I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed.**

"That's not going to wo-rk" singsonged Apollo.

"Satyrs read emotions, Patrick, not expressions." said Dionysus.

**I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.**

**But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.**

"A whole lot, Perce. A whole lot." said Grover softly.

**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam, my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.**

"Three hours!? Man, after that, monsters seem like play time!" said Connor.

**For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.**

**"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... it's for the best."**

"He is _so_ going to take this the wrong way." said Thalia, as Nico and Annabeth nodded.

**His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.**

Nico muttered something under his breath, which only Thalia heard.

She nodded, but nevertheless reprimanded him, "Language, Nico. How many times do I have to tell you?"

**I mumbled, "Okay, sir."**

**"I mean ..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."**

"Chiron…" Artemis trailed off, shaking her head. She knew he meant well, but this was not how he should have explained it to the boy.

**My eyes stung.**

"What kind of a hero is this loser?" sneered Ares.

Poseidon turned to Ares, his face set in an eerily calm expression. "Ares, we get that you are a masochist who seeks out trouble, but my son is just a boy, with an actual heart and actual feelings. So if you say one more word about him being soft, I will hurt your immortal behind so badly, you won't be able to sit for a month. Understood?" he asked, his trident glowing threateningly.

Ares gulped and nodded. _No sense in pissing off one of the Big Three, no matter how wimpy his son was._

**Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**

"No Perce, he is saying that you're gonna come to Camp Half Blood and kick some major monster booty!" said Travis, looking bracingly at the book.

"Gee, thanks for clearing that up, meathead." said Thalia, rolling her eyes.

Annabeth however, didn't hear this. So her Percy had felt the same way she had… unwanted and an outsider. She made a mental note to give him an extra hug if- no, _when_ he came back. After she finished kicking his stupid barnacle butt for leaving her alone for such a long time.

**"Right," I said, trembling.**

**"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be - "**

**"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me."**

"Chiron…" groaned the room at large.

**"Percy - "**

**But I was already gone.**

**On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.**

**The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.**

"Ha!" snorted Zeus. "Nobodies? Have you met your uncle boy? Do I look like a nobody?" he asked, sitting up straight in his throne.

"Actually brother, I don't think he has." said Poseidon calmly, as the others sniggered. "Although, I am not sure his opinion about you would really change." he added, winking at Hermes as Zeus turned purple in the face.

"POSEI-"

"Peace brother, it was just a joke."

Still glaring at a chortling Poseidon, Zeus relaxed a little in his throne, gesturing to Katie to resume her reading.

**They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city.**

**What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.**

**"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."**

**They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.**

**The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city.**

"Stalker alert!" said Connor as Travis made siren sounds.

**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.**

"Jeez, Goat Boy, could you be any more obvious? A blind baby would realize you were up to something." growled Nico.

Grover looked down at his hands, blushing to the tips of his curly satyr horns.

**Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.**

**I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"**

"Subtle, Kelp Boy," snorted Thalia, "Just scare the living Hades out of Grover, why don't you?"

"Bet you a cookie that Grover wets his pants!" whispered Leo to Jason.

"You don't have a cookie, Leo.." interjected Piper, rolling her eyes.

"Eh, easy-peasy." said Leo, airily. He raised his voice to address the Olympians.

"Uhh, godly folk..? Yeah, I don't know about the others, but I'm kinda starving, so if we could have some cookies or something like that, I'd be super-grateful." he finished.

"We'll take a break for refreshments after this chapter is done, son of Hephaestus." said Athena, looking to Zeus for approval.

"Yes, and until then, you can all have some of my multigrain cookies. They do wonders for one's constitution." said Demeter, conjuring up a large plate of cookies in front of Leo.

"Uhh, thank you, Lady Demeter, but things are already flowing rather freely, if you know what I mean.." trailed off Leo, looking warily at the cookies.

"TMI Repair Boy," said Clarisse, wrinkling her nose.

"I'm with Clarisse on this one, man. Some things I really don't want to know." grumbled Frank.

Leo looked around at the faces around him, which ranged from snoring (Dionysus), to stony to mildly grossed out. "Hey, Lady Demeter started it!" he exclaimed.

Piper sighed, and whispered something into his ear. A look of dawning comprehension appeared on Leo's face.

"Ohh. Sorry guys." he said, sheepishly munching on a cookie.

**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha - what do you mean?"**

"Way to play it cool, Grover.." chuckled Chris.

Grover put his face into his hands, muttering something about stupid book and never living it down.

**I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.**

The Stolls, groaned in unison.

"Rule number 12, NEVER, EVER fess up to your crimes. EVER." they intoned solemnly.

**Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"**

**"Oh ... not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"**

"Cuts right to the chase, doesn't he." observed Artemis, drily, as the others chuckled.

**He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers ..."**

"Too late, goat boy, I don't think even Perce is thick enough to fall for that." said Nico, as the others nodded.

**"Grover - "**

**"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..."**

**"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar."**

"Amen, Percy." intoned Connor, earning him a glare from the satyr.

**His ears turned pink.**

"Seems like some things never change." snickered Clarisse, as Grover covered his very pink ears amid general laughter.

**From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer.**

**The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like:**

**Grover Underwood**

**Keeper**

**Half-Blood Hill**

**Long Island, New York**

**(800) 009-0009**

"Why the fancy script, anyway?" grumbled Leo, "As if regular print isn't hard enough."

"He-e-ey, don't look at me," bleated Grover, "Mr. D gives us the cards."

Gods and demigods alike turned to glare at the wine god, who shrugged. "What can I say, it's fun to watch them struggle."

"Unless you want me to extend your punishment by another fifty years, you will remedy this as soon as we're done here, understood?" rumbled Zeus.

Dionysus scowled, but nodded anyway, as Katie resumed her reading.

**"What's Half - "**

**"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... summer address."**

**My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.**

_Poor Percy, _thought Annabeth. She knew what it felt like to have the rug pulled out from under you just when you thought you had someone to call a friend.

**"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."**

Travis snorted, but said nothing in fear of Annabeth's very sharp dagger.

**He nodded. "Or ... or if you need me."**

**"Why would I need you?"**

"Ouch." said Chris, Piper and Nico, as Grover winced.

Annabeth put a hand on the satyr's shoulder. "You know he didn't mean it like that." she whispered. Grover nodded, but didn't look up from his hands.

**It came out harsher than I meant it to.**

"At least he realises his folly," said Artemis, whose lips had been pinched in disapproval.

**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I - I kind of have to protect you."**

_Yeah, and a brilliant job I did of protecting him, _thought Grover.

As if she could read his thoughts, Thalia leaned towards him.  
"You did the best you could, Goat Boy, we all did. Whatever happened to him, it's not on you."

**I stared at him.**

**All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. **

"Awww…" cooed most of the people in the throne room, as Grover blushed.

_A truly loyal friend, _thought Athena, grudgingly.

**And here he was acting like he was the one who defended me.**

**"Grover," I said, "what exactly are you protecting me from?"**

_So many things, dear boy, _thought Poseidon_, so many, many things_.

**There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.**

"Uh-oh" said Chris, "That can't be a coincidence."

Annabeth paled. She had never heard about this. _It was probably just a simple breakdown, _she reassured herself, though the knot in her stomach refused to ease up.

**After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.**

**We were on a stretch of country road - no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.**

Athena narrowed her eyes, trying to figure out why that seemed familiar.

**The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of blood-red cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice. There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.**

"No." whispered Poseidon, clenching the arms of his throne. _It couldn't be. _All the other gods looked at him sympathetically (except Ares and Dionysus, of course), having figured it out.

Annabeth was grey faced, and looked like she was going to burst into tears.

**I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.**

"Why are you so alarmed by Percy's description of some weird old ladies in the country?" asked Leo, looking extremely confused.

"Those aren't just any old ladies," said Thalia grimly, seeing that Annabeth was in no condition to explain, "They're the Three Fates."

Leo gulped. He'd heard of the Fates, all right.

"So, the yarn…." ventured Piper queasily.

"It's a lifeline, child." said Athena. "Probably the boy's, since they appeared to him."

Annabeth made a choking noise as she buried her face in Thalia's shoulder.

For the umpteenth time, Athena wondered why her daughter was so concerned about Kelp Head's spawn. She resolved to ask her once this chapter was completed.

**All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.**

Despite the grim atmosphere in the throne room, Nico managed a weak chuckle at Percy's description.

**The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.**

With a soft splash, Poseidon turned into a saltwater puddle on his throne.

"He does that when he is extremely stressed, and can't handle it." explained Apollo, seeing the demigods' bemused faces.

**I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.**

So thick was he tension in the room that no even the Stolls could muster up a smile at that.

**"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man - "**

**"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**

**"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"**

"**So **not the time for wisecracks, Kelp Breath.." muttered Thalia. She had her arm wrapped around Annabeth, who was trembling ever so slightly.

**"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."**

**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors - gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.**

"No, no, no, no….." chanted Annabeth softly, her eyes closed tightly.

**"We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."**

"Yes, get on the us, you idiot!" exclaimed Nico, making the others jump.

**"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there."**

**"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.**

"Damn it Perce, why did you have to be so damn stubborn." mumbled Grover, shaking his head.

**Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. **

Katie's voice was tense as she read, like a wire that had been stretched taut.

**The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic. **

The demigods gasped softly, looking aghast.

**Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for - Sasquatch or Godzilla.**

**At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.**

"It couldn't' have been fixed two minutes ago?"

**The passengers cheered.**

**"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"**

**Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.**

"Why him, why my boy?" muttered Poseidon, who had reverted back into his godly form.

**Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.**

**"Grover?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"What are you not telling me?"**

**He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"**

**"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"**

"I wish they were." said Poseidon, looking ten years older.

**His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. **

"Your boy has good instincts, Poseidon." remarked Artemis.

Despite his worry, Poseidon managed to crack a small, proud smile.

**He said, "Just tell me what you saw."**

**"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn."**

**He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost - older.**

"Gods, Percy, why didn't you tell me any of this?" mumbled Annabeth, looking both sad and angry.

**He said, "You saw her snip the cord."**

**"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.**

"Huge."

**"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."**

Grover looked down at that. With an exasperated sigh, Thalia smacked him over the head.

"OW! What the Hades was that for Thals?" grumbled Grover, massaging the back of his head.

"How many times do we have to tell you that that wasn't your fault before it gets into your head, you thick-skulled goat?" she demanded, blue eyes flashing.

"But.." began Grover, only to be cut off by Thalia, "No buts, Grover. It. Wasn't. Your. Fault. And the next time you say it is, I'll shock you. Got it?" she asked, tendrils of lightning dancing across her fingers.

Grover gave an alarmed nod, before scooting slightly away from her.

**"What last time?"**

**"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."**

**"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"**

**"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me."**

**This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.**

"Thank the Gods."

"You're welcome!" singsonged Hermes and Apollo, trying to lighten the mood. It worked, sort of.

**"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.**

**No answer.**

**"Grover - that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"**

The mood in the room went plummeting again.

**He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.**

"Done." Said Katie, shakily. She marked the page before laying the book on the couch next to her.

The demigods looked relieved that that chapter was over with.

"Well, let's have lunch before we proceed." said Zeus. He pointed to a door that had shimmered into view. "Through that door is a corridor. First door on the left is the dining room for you demigods. Beyond that are rooms for each of you to freshen up, and sleep, as I imagine we will be here for a while. Your names will be on your respective doors. We will meet back here to read the next chapter in exactly an hour and a half."

All the demigods nodded, as they slowly got to their feet. Leo was first through the door, to nobody's surprise, and the others were quick to follow.


End file.
